Vincenzo Bellini - I Capuletti ed i Montecchi - "Ah! crudel, d'onor ragio" (Jennifer Larmore & Hei-Kyung Hong)

In accordance with my recent upload of Giulietta's lovely romanza from Bellini's treatment (some would say the librettist's mistreatment) of Shakespeare's timeless tale of the lovers from Verona, I decided to also upload the lovers' big duet presented here (as well as Romeo's cavatina).

We begin with the central andante (to save time, I had to cut the opening statements of the lovers, as well as the tempo di mezzo, though the main structure is preserved) with each lover separately stating their conflicting feelings in a ravishing cantabile. After a short transition, involving a cadenza for Giulietta and several anguishing phrases for Romeo, the emotional weight is lifted even further with the connection of their lines into a strikingly romantic expression of young love. Though the andante is certainly a perfectly lovely section, I have to admit my special penchant for the stretta that follows it, unusually intense, contrasting the lovers' long, elaborate lines with the slightly martial accompaniment (possibly to further highlight the forced departure of Romeo) leading to one of the best codas to a love duet imaginable.

I've decided to upload two contrasting versions: one, the "correct" one, with Romeo sung by a woman, here the very impressive Jennifer Larmore joined, again, by Hei-Kyung Hong's gentle Giulietta; another, the "wrong" one, as performed in the 1960s under a young Claudio Abbado's direction, with Giulietta cast as usual, with a lyric soprano, Margherita Rinaldi, but with a "blasphemy" committed with the use of a tenor, the superb Giacomo Aragall (though the latter's excellence somewhat helps the listener to almost forget the error committed). Hope you'll enjoy :)!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bellini
• coloratura
• belcanto
• classical

[fatalistbg1]

Wonderful work !!! Mirabilemnte idilliaca opera !!!

[pweny]

Larmore owns this role.

[pweny]

Teldec.

[bbbartolo]

Wonderful! Now, who said YouTube was free? I'll have to buy some version of this opera (preferably this one--is it OperaRara?). Agree about the stretta & coda. Just outstanding.